David Chuenyan Lai: He has visited more than 40 Chinatowns and mapped their history

David Lai is a retired University of Victoria professor who has written 10 books and hundreds of articles about Chinese Canadian history.Photo by

When David Chuenyan Lai came to the University of Victoria in 1968, he couldn’t find a single book in Chinese in its library. Today, the retired geography professor has written nearly a dozen books on Chinese-Canadian history, many of which now grace those shelves.

When Lai arrived in B.C. from Hong Kong with his wife, what they did find was discrimination.

“We found it difficult to get a place. We’d hear of an apartment open, we’d run over and they said the suite is taken,” he recalled.

Eventually, the departmental chairman secured them a place.

Since then, Lai has spent his career mapping the history of neighbourhoods Chinese haven’t been barred from: Chinatowns.

Lai has visited more than 40. The reason? “To promote multiculturalism, we must know each others’ history,” said the B.C. multicultural advisory committee member.

On his own first visits to Victoria’s Chinatown, it was hard for him to see why the buildings were such warrens. Only with research did he realize it was harder for police — who raided for overcrowding — to find families.

Recently, Lai partnered with SFU to develop Chinese Canadian history education tools, including a B.C. timeline and pamphlets on Chinatown — eventually, he wants everyone in B.C. to be able find books reflecting their culture on library shelves.

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